News

Grounded yacht floats free after day on shoal

M/Y Sunrise, a 171-foot Oceanco, which grounded on a shoal in front of Pier 66 Marina in Fort Lauderdale this morning is floating free. According to a source close to the towing company, the yacht was being towed as of about 6:45 tonight. Further details have not been revealed to The Triton.

Feb. 13, 2:43 p.m.

Tow boats are on hand with M/Y Sunrise, a 171-foot Oceanco, which grounded on a shoal in front of Pier 66 Marina in Fort Lauderdale today. Crews are waiting as the tide rises this afternoon.

The yacht left its berth at the marina early this morning, according to Marina Director Megan Lagasse. The vessel hit the sand after leaving the north canal, the Stranahan River, as it made a turn to the south to go under the 17th Street Causeway Bridge.

Online yacht specification sheets for M/Y Sunrise list the draft as 12.47 feet. The existence of a shoal high enough to impede a vessel of that draft was unclear until this morning.

“We are taking the first steps to get full soundings,” Lagasse said. “We’re moving forward to make sure we address this immediately.”

Spectators at Lauderdale Marina and 15th Street Fisheries, watching from across the Intracoastal Waterway, speculate that the shoal may have built up after last fall’s near-miss hurricanes or possibly from the arrivals and departures of several large yachts that have docked on the outside wall at the marina recently.